English Unaccusative Verbs Research Articles

Second Language Acquisition of English Unaccusative Verbs: A Theoretical Critique and Prospects for Future Studies

Unaccusative verbs are a focus of second language acquisition research. Taking the second language acquisition of English unaccusative verbs as an example, this study first reviews the Unaccusative Hierarchy Hypothesis, the Unaccusative Trap Hypothesis and the Semantic Verb Class Hypothesis, which are exclusively concerned with the acquisition of unaccusative verbs. Then it examines the Entrenchment Hypothesis and the Interface Hypothesis, which address language acquisition in general, but shed light on the second language acquisition of English unaccusative verbs. This study maintains that these five hypothesis help to provide a panoramic view of second language acquisition of English unaccusative verbs. But it also points out that these hypotheses need to be further tested. It advises future studies to take a usage-based theoretical approach. It also calls for more attention to the possible between-verb variations, the possible influence of L1 transfer and the online processing of English unaccusative verbs

The impact of glossing and reading activity manipulation on learning of L2 lexico-grammatical and lexical items

The present study investigates the impact of glossing and reading activity manipulation on learning of target lexico-grammatical and lexical items. Eighty-eight Korean undergraduate students read either glossed or unglossed English texts. Each paragraph of the texts was split into two (less careful condition) or three to four subparts (more careful condition), and participants were asked to rearrange them into a coherent order and answer multiple-choice reading comprehension items. Glossing was conducted by providing Korean translations of target items, i.e. 15 English unaccusative verbs and 10 pseudowords. Learning was assessed with an untimed grammaticality judgment test and word form and meaning recognition tests. The results revealed that glossing affected word meaning recognition scores positively, but form recognition scores negatively. In addition, more careful reading facilitated learning of the target unaccusative verbs while having a negative influence on word meaning recognition scores. Neither glossing nor reading activity manipulation affected reading comprehension scores.

A Corpus-based 3M Approach to the Teaching of English Unaccusative Verbs

This study attempts to take a corpus-based approach to teaching English unaccusative verbs to Chinese students in a 3M way, which is a combination of implicit and explicit instructions. It finds that Chinese students welcome the corpus-based approach and are excited to see the concordance lines retrieved from the Chinese English Learner Corpus (CLEC). And they prefer explicit instructions by the teacher, which they think is insightful and useful. But they are not keen about figuring out the usages of the target words from the context, which they think is a bit boring. This suggests that Chinese students, who have been accustomed to being spoon-fed by their teachers, are not highly autonomous. This study concludes that the corpus-based 3M approach is in general effective for the teaching of English unaccusative verbs.

THE EFFECTS OF READING ACTIVITY CHARACTERISTICS ON L2 READING PROCESSES AND NOTICING OF GLOSSED CONSTRUCTIONS

AbstractThis study examined the extent to which manipulating the characteristics of second language reading activities affects the reading process and noticing of glossed linguistic constructions. Thirty-eight Korean learners of English read two texts under conditions that required more or less careful reading. For the condition intended to promote more careful reading, each paragraph of the texts was divided into three or four subparts. For the condition expected to elicit less careful reading, each paragraph was split into two sections. While reading the texts, the participants’ eye movements were recorded. Eleven students were further invited to participate in stimulated recall protocols. The target constructions were English unaccusative verbs and 10 pseudowords, which were glossed with Korean translations. The eye movement and stimulated recall data indicated that, as predicted, the participants processed the texts more carefully and attended to the target verbs more closely when paragraphs were divided into more subparts.

L1 Influence and Interface Effects in L2 English Unaccusatives

The Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2011; Sorace & Filiaci, 2006; Sorace & Serratrice, 2009; Tsimpli & Sorace, 2006, among others) states that the grammar external interface is more vulnerable for advanced L2ers or bilinguals than the grammar internal interface, and L1 discourse influence is one factor responsible for their residual difficulty (Sorace, 2005; Sorace, Serratrice, Filiaci & Baldo, 2009). Their study, however, did not disentangle interface effects from L1 influence and it is unclear whether the residual difficulty of advanced L2ers is due to interface effects or L1 influence. The results of the present study which teases the two factors apart show that L1 influence is stronger than interface effects. The results without L1 influence show that the syntax-discourse interface is more vulnerable than the syntax-morphology interface, supporting the Interface Hypothesis. This study examines two sets of data, cross-sectional and longitudinal, on overpassivization of L2 English unaccusative verbs by Chinese and Korean speakers.

Effects of Task Complexity on L2 Reading and L2 Learning

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has propelled much research into how task type, condition, or demand affects L2 learners’ linguistic performance and language learning. To date, however, TBLT has mainly been researched in connection with learners’ production, while its applicability to L2 reading has largely been unattended to. To fill this gap, the present study explored whether and how cognitive complexity of L2 reading tasks would affect L2 English reading comprehension and learning of target L2 constructions contained in the texts. The study employed a pretest, posttest, delayed-posttest design with two treatment sessions. The target features were 17 English unaccusative verbs and ten pseudowords. Participants included 52 Korean college students learning L2 English who were randomly assigned to either – or + complex condition. Reading comprehension was measured with 14 multiple-choice items for each text, and learning of the target constructions was assessed with a grammaticality judgment test and word form and meaning recognition tests. The results of mixed-effects modeling indicated that increased task complexity had limited effects on reading comprehension scores as well as learning of the target unaccusative verbs. Also, task complexity had significant negative effects on vocabulary form recognition scores in the delayed posttest. The results are discussed in relation to models of task-based learning and L2 reading.

L2 Acquisition of English Unaccusative Verbs: A Longitudinal Study

This paper presents aspects of eight advanced Korean EFL speakers' acquisition of English unaccusative verbs over a period of five years. It examines how three factors−L1 morphology, pragmatic causation, and animacy−have affected their English unaccusative verb grammar during that time. A forced-elicitation grammaticality judgment task was performed three times over this period. It showed that L1 morphology was the most persistent among these factors. The results are compared with Chung (2014), a cross-sectional study, where the same method was used. The findings reveal that the Korean EFL subjects' overpassivization of English unaccusatives is not fossilized, which differs from the findings of Han (2006), who examined two Chinese native learners of English. It also indicates that instruction can play an important role in long-term L2 learning.

A Contrastive Study of Chinese Learners’Acquisition of English Non-alternating and Alternating Unaccusative Verbs

English unaccusative verbs pose great difficulties to second language learners. The distinction between non-alternating and alternating unaccusative verbs makes the learning task even more difficult. This study conducts a contrastive study of how Chinese learners acquire these two types of verbs in terms of acquisition sequence, acquisition problem and developmental patterns. It finds that non-alternating and alternating unaccusative verbs are completely different from each other in acquisition sequence and acquisition problem, but are partly different in developmental patterns.

Testing the Advanced Korean EFL learners’ acquisition of the unaccusative verb in online processing

The present study investigated advanced Korean-speaking L2 learners' acquisition of English unaccusative verbs in comparison with unergatives and...

Multiple factors in the L2 acquisition of English unaccusative verbs

Multiple factors in the L2 acquisition of English unaccusative verbs

Korean L2 Overpassivization of Unaccusative Verbs: Focusing on the Relative Effects of Linguistic and Cognitive Factors

This paper examines how linguistic and cognitive factors play roles in Korean learners` overpassivization with English unaccusative verbs. It has been reported in L2 literature that overpassivization with English unaccusative verbs are prevalent among Korean learners as well as learners from various L1 backgrounds (Balcom, 1997; Hwang, 1999, 2001; Ju, 2000; Oshita, 2000, 2001; Yip, 1994, 1995; Zobl, 1989). The causes of this phenomenon have been analyzed predominantly from the syntactic view by many researchers (Balcom, 1997; Oshita, 2000; Yip, 1994; Zobl, 1989). However, as different error patterns have been observed among different unaccusative verbs in terms of overpassivization in recent studies, SLA researchers have tried to relate this phenomenon to diverse factors (Croft, 1995; Ju, Montrul, 1999, 2000, 2001; No & Chung, 2006). In this regard, this study chose to examine the following three factors as major sources affecting overpassivization in the L2 literature: verb alternation, subject animacy, and context type representing not only linguistic but also cognitive fields. In addition to analyzing the main effects of these factors on Korean L2 learners` overpassivization, this study also attempts to examine if there exist any relative effects among them. A grammaticality judgment task was administered to a group of 70 Korean college participants. The results of the GJT showed that all of the three factors above had considerable effects on overpassivization with English unaccusative verbs by Korean L2 learners. When d­values of the three factors were calculated to compare their relative effects, the context type factor was found to have the strongest effect.

The Role of Conceptualizable Agent in Overpassivization of English Unaccusatives in Iranian English Majors

The present study is an attempt to explore the effect of one of the pragmatic elements of discourse (namely the conceptualizable agent) on overpassivization of English unaccusative verbs. Through employing the questionnaire originally used by Ju, (2000), 206 Iranian intermediate and advanced English majors were asked to choose the more grammatical form (active or passive) in target sentences with unaccusative verbs. Each target sentence was embedded in two different contexts expressing external and internal causation. The participants' performance supported the hypothesis that unaccusatives were overpassivized more when the discourse context offered a conceptualizable agent, and that monadic unaccusative verbs were passivized more than dyadic ones. The learners recognized conceptualizable agents offered by the discourse context and their judgments on sentence acceptance were influenced by these agents. Since, in the literature, other researchers like Ju (2000); Oshita (1997); Yip (1995); and Zobl (1989) reported that many non-native English learners crosslinguistically over-passivize unaccusative verbs, it provided additional support for the claim that these errors are language

The Input of L2 English Unaccusative Verbs: EFL Textbooks and Teachers' Knowledge

The Input of L2 English Unaccusative Verbs: EFL Textbooks and Teachers' Knowledge